The future of TED

Nine months ago, Chris Anderson kicked off a Willy Wonka-esque search for renewing the leadership of TED. At the time, I have to admit that I was pretty skeptical. Maybe it was a fear of the unknown. More likely, a fear that whoever Chris sold TED to would be someone or something that would take TED into a bad direction.

I was also a bit intrigued because this opened up a possibility space for an organization that I invested a lot of sweat equity into from 2009-2016 as a main stage photographer. Lately, TED has felt like it’s stagnating and playing it too safe in its current formula. A little too comfortable with the glossy talks. A desire to be brave with controversial talks, but a bit too cautious of offending someone on either side of the political spectrum.

Therefore, I was nervous — as were many people — to listen in to yesterday’s announcement of the result of the process. I was very relieved to hear that despite the chance to sell out or to transform TED into a for-profit endeavor, Chris doubled-down on the idea that TED meant something and should to be preserved. In the blog post of the announcement, Chris says:

But for me — and for everyone on TED’s leadership team — the answers weren’t just about capital or scale. They were about stewardship, values, and a shared belief in giving ideas away, trusting community, preserving independence, and amplifying human possibility.

When Chris then announced that Sal Khan would be taking the position of Vision Steward, I was initially surprised, and then a mixture of relieved and intrigued. Vision Steward is certainly an interesting title, but it’s clear that Sal is Chris’ replacement as the person who curates and shapes TED’s direction. Sal has done amazing work with Khan Academy and I think he can help TED a lot in this new role and bring a very fresh perspective.

I was also excited to see Logan’s appointment to CEO. I first met Logan at the very first TED I photographed in Long Beach in 2009, and I’ve been a fan of hers since the day I met her. She was so full of potential then and has certainly become a powerhouse now. Her recent work at both the Obama Foundation and with TED Countdown has been amazing to see. And while these are fairly left-leaning credentials these days, she also worked for almost three years at Palantir, which is quite the counter balance.

Look, every change is risky. And I know that there are people in the wider TED community that were underwhelmed by the news. Maybe they were seriously hoping that a firebrand billionaire like Elon Musk would do something like merge TED with what’s left of Twitter. Or maybe they were hoping for a buyer that would move it away from the United States and the current political turbulence there to a safe haven where it couldn’t be repressed into insignificance. Maybe they’re right, and this won’t be enough to revitalize TED. Maybe TED is from a different moment in time that can’t make the jump to the new normal.

I don’t know. We’ll have to see. What I do know is that I have a huge amount of trust in the worldview of both Sal and Logan. If they are truly unshackled and ambitious — and maybe even are more than a bit audacious in really tweaking the formula and running further into the controversial and meaty topics that we need to make progress on both in the United States and in the world at large — and they succeed in reinventing TED, then it’ll be a TED that I will be excited to see in the world again. I hope that’s a TED that can help pull us back from the toxic negative-sum discourse we are drowning in and into a positive-sum discourse that will help us face the future that’s quickly coming, as uncomfortable as it is.